Telephone service in the North America is one of the most reliable communications systems in the world. The public switched telephone network (PSTN), or landline network, uses copper and fiber optic land-based telephone lines as the standard for connecting end-user telephone equipment to the network. Landline telephone equipment, known in the art as customer premises equipment (CPE), receives and sends telephone calls through the landline network. The reliability of the landline network creates a consumer expectation of trouble-free, uninterrupted telephone service. Nevertheless, landline telephone service occasionally becomes interrupted, primarily due to damage caused to overhead landlines during severe weather.
For example, landline telephone service often becomes interrupted during extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, and ice storms. Because these weather events often coincide with electric power outages and very difficult traveling conditions, many subscribers, such as the elderly, immobile persons, persons caring for young children, and persons relying on home-based medical equipment may find that these extreme weather events are the most important occasions to have telephone service available. Emergency response personnel, private contractors specializing in tree removal, insurance adjusters, government officials, and utility personnel may also have an increased need to maintain telephone service during extreme weather events. Though no system can be guaranteed 100 percent reliable, these and other subscribers may be willing to pay for any gain or increase in reliability of their telephone service.
In addition, when landline telephone service becomes interrupted, a delay in the repair time may occur if the service provider is not notified as soon as possible. In some cases, the consumer may not realize that his or her telephone service has been interrupted for an extended period, and the service provider will not be able to react until the consumer notifies the service provider of the interruption. For example, if a subscriber's home telephone service becomes interrupted while the subscriber is at work, the subscriber might not learn of the interruption until returning home from work several hours later.
Moreover, the telephone network is often relied on for security systems, such as burglar alarms, fire alarms, home-based medical monitoring systems, home-arrest prisoner monitoring systems, and the like. In other words, the current landline telephone system serves as the communication infrastructure for a large part of the remote monitoring and security systems for businesses and homes by police, fire, emergency medical personnel, and private security providers. For instance, many homeowners use burglar alarms programmed to call the police or an alarm monitoring company when the alarm is triggered. These burglar alarms, in turn, use the landline telephone system to communicate the alarm notifications to the proper authorities. As a result, intentionally cutting the landline providing telephone service to the home defeats the notification feature of the alarm system.
One approach for solving the problems described above would be to issue a conventional wireless telephone to each landline subscriber. However, this approach would allow each subscriber to use both the landline equipment and the wireless telephone at the same time. This type of increase in telephone service typically involves a monthly service charge that many subscribers may be unwilling to pay. In addition, assigning a second wireless directory number for each existing landline directory number would consume a large number of directory numbers, which could deplete the number of available directory numbers in some areas. Alternatively, upgrading the telecommunications infrastructure to allow wireless telephones to use the same directory numbers as landline telephones on a large scale basis would require a significant investment in the existing telecommunications infrastructure.
Thus, there is a need for devices to increase the reliability of landline telephone service. In particular, there is a need for a device capable of backing up landline customer premises equipment during landline telephone service interruptions. There is a further need for a technically and economically feasible mechanism for backing up landline telephone service without unnecessarily depleting the supply of directory numbers or significantly increasing the existing telecommunications infrastructure.